NEW YORK, NY.- The Metropolitan Museum of Art launched a new web series, 82nd & Fifth, in which 100 curators from across the Museum talk about 100 works of art from the Mets collection that changed the way they see the worldone work, one curator, two minutes at a time. Eleven Museum photographers interpret the curators audio commentaries visually.
82nd & Fifth is the Mets address in New York City and also an intersection of art and ideas. Each episode includes Watch, a two-minute audio and visual essay with a curator and a work of art he or she finds transformative; and Explore, an interactive feature that invites the visitor to get closer to the work of art on his or her own.
Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, said: 82nd & Fifth is a project that speaks directly to my interest in using the Met's collection to link historical art and culture to the real world. In a sea of constant information, these two-minute, authoritative commentaries are a welcome way to get powerful and compelling content in quick doses. We hope they will intrigue audiences who love the Met and those who are new to art.
82nd & Fifth builds on a series of award-winning Metropolitan Museum online initiatives inspired by the Museums vast collection. The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, launched in 2000, continues to evolve and expand, and receives more than one million visits per month. Connections (2011) offers personal perspectives on works of art from the collection by 100 Met staff members. 82nd & Fifth is the third installment in this trilogy of signature collection-inspired Metropolitan Museum online features.
At launch last week, six episodes were posted online and will be followed by two episodes weeklyevery Wednesday at 11:00 a.m.through December 25.
The inaugural episodes are:
Faith by Luke Syson, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Curator in Charge of the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Art, on Antonio Rossellinos Madonna and Child with Angels;
Modern Living by Amelia Peck, the Marica F. Vilcek Curator of American Decorative Arts, on Frank Lloyd Wrights Little House Living Room;
String Theory by Jayson Kerr Dobney, Associate Curator and Administrator, Department of Musical Instruments, on a guitar created by Hermann Hauser for Andrès Segovia;
Prime of Life by Alisa LaGamma, Curator of African Art, on a Fang female reliquary;
Winners and Losers by Xavier Salomon, Curator of Italian Paintings, on Giovanni Battista Tiepolos The Triumph of Marius; and
Altered States by Nadine Orenstein, Curator of Northern European Prints, on Rembrandts Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves: The Three Crosses.
82nd & Fifth can be found at
www.metmuseum.org/82nd-and-Fifth.
Visitors can sign up to receive email reminders each Wednesday morning, when new episodes are posted.